São Paulo State Environmental Agency Establishes Term Of Reference For Solid Waste Management Plan Related To State Environmental Licensing

The Environmental Agency of the State of São Paulo, by means of Board Decision No. 130/2022/P, issued on December 15, 2022, established the Term of Reference for the Solid Waste Management Plan. The Term of Reference is to be presented during the state environmental licensing proceeding and aims to improve plans’ legal security and standardizing structure, content (setting minimum content) and presentation. According to Art. 24 of Federal Law No. 12,305/2010 (Solid Waste National Policy), the Solid Waste Management Plan is integrated to environmental licensing proceeding, and, according to Art. 19 of State Law No. 12,300/2006, this plan should cover generation, segregation, conditioning, storage, gathering, transportation, treatment and final disposal of waste as well as elimination of risks and protection of human health and the environment.
 
With respect to the structure and types of Solid Waste Management Plans, the board decision provides, for example, an appendix with items and minimum content to be observed; that such plans should be presented by developers in electronic format by means of the State Online Management System of Solid Waste; and that collective and integrated plans can be applied to projects/enterprises located in the same condominium or local productive arrangement provided that the projects/enterprises: 

(i) Involve activities characteristic of the same productive segment;
(ii) Have formalized collective governance or cooperation mechanisms involving common interest activities; and 
(iii) Are supervised by a single environmental agency.

Furthermore, the board decision establishes phases in which Solid Waste Management Plans should be presented:

(i) For new projects: When requesting an installation license. (If the project is subject to an environmental impact assessment, the plan should describe the waste to be generated during the construction phase.)
(ii) For projects/enterprises already installed: When requesting an  installation license for activity expansion since expansion represents change to the generation or management of waste foreseen in the previous Solid Waste Management Plan.
(iii) For projects/enterprises in operation: When requesting an operation license renewal.

The board decision also provides, among other things, for:

(i) Requesting a waiver to not present the Solid Waste Management Plan.
(ii) Presenting a Simplified Plan (applicable to micro and small companies in specific situations).
(iii) Presenting Management Plans for Civil Construction Waste, for Health Services and for Ports, Airports, Railway and Road Terminals.

The board decision also establishes that provisions involving shared responsibility and reverse logistics systems should be presented in a separate document and under terms to be defined by the relevant authority.

The board decision will come into effect 30 days after the Solid Waste Management Plan module is made available on the State Online Management System of Solid Waste platform.

Our Environmental Practice is at your disposal for further clarifications.